A Senshi's Ransom 2: Magnesium Madness
by auxillary
Summary: The criminals from "A Senshi's Ransom" are out on bail, and they're out for revenge. When they kidnap Ami's mother and force Ami to come to a magnesium factory as Sailor Mercury, they put her on an uneven playing field. Can Shingo get to the factory in ti


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic is a sequel (a true sequel, Slumber Party Showdown was kind of a side fic) to last year's "A Senshi's Ransom". If you want to read that fic, it's in my profile.

-

A black car drove quietly into the Minato district of Tokyo, an affluent area of the city where it was not uncommon to see people out and about, enjoying their wealth and the luxurious things that it could purchase. The black car wasn't exactly luxurious, but it didn't look out of place in the neighborhood. People drove through Minato all the time, many of them heading to work as receptionists, janitors, and caretakers of the large apartment complexes that were sprinkled throughout the area.

The two men in the car, however, were neither receptionists nor janitors, though they were certainly in Minato to take care of something.

Something that had been bugging them for the longest time. It had kept them awake at night, wondering to themselves how they could possibly rectify a situation that had grown out of control. How they could save face, an important task in their line of work. How they could exorcise the specter that haunted their minds. How they could get even.

Because this something, or rather, someone, was a very formidable specter indeed.

"You think she'll be here today?" asked the man in the passenger seat, a short, chubby man who wore a baseball cap, a thick black sweatshirt, and a matching pair of black sweatpants.

"Of course she will," replied the man who was driving the car, a tall, muscular individual who wore dark sunglasses, a camoflauge t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and black cowboy boots. "School's out for winter vacation, you know that. Besides, it's six o'clock anyway... just about supper time."

The girl that the two men were talking about and the specter that had haunted the men's minds for the past month were one in the same. It all went back to that fateful day exactly one month earlier. The two men, career criminals, had kidnapped a 16-year-old girl named Ami Mizuno, daughter of the famous doctor Miyeka Mizuno. Almost as soon as they had gotten her back to the hideout, one of her friends, Shingo Tsukino, barged in in an attempt to rescue his friend.

The reason that the two men weren't bitter at the boy is simple. They had him beaten, and were about to finish him off, when a miracle, at least to everyone _except_ the two criminals, occured. Ami Mizuno, who just seconds earlier had been gagged and inescapably bound to a chair just a few feet away, transformed into the Senshi of Water, Sailor Mercury. The two men had heard of the Sailor Senshi before they abducted Ami, but never in their wildest dreams did they think they had actually kidnapped one in her detransformed state. As soon as Ami transformed, the criminals' caper was over. In a matter of moments, the men were defeated and hauled off to jail, where they had been for twenty-seven days until they managed to bail out three days ago.

Of course, no one in jail believed that Ami Mizuno was Sailor Mercury, despite the men's protestations. And so, when the two bailed out of jail, they immediately set about to prove to the world that what they had seen was real, and at the same time, exact a measure of revenge against their blue-haired foil unlike any ever witnessed in the criminal world. The plan was already made, and it was about to be swiftly carried into motion.

The two men's car pulled into the parking garage adjacent to the large apartment where Ami and her mother lived. The men got out of their car and entered the apartment without incident. Their dress was rather gangly compared to what someone would normally expect a resident of a luxury apartment complex to wear, but the receptionist had nothing but a bright smile to offer the two men as they casually walked up to her desk.

"May I... help you gentlemen?" said the receptionist, a girl with long, straight red hair that went down to just past her shoulders. She wore a blue and white striped dress that perfectly matched her beautiful blue eyes.

"Yes, we'd like to know where Dr. Mizuno's apartment is, please," said the taller man in a deceptively charming voice. He held up a bouquet of yellow flowers. "I'd like to thank her for curing my bronchitis that was bothering me all last week..."

"Ah, I see!" said the receptionist, clearly not a viewer of the news, and thus wouldn't be able to identify these two men as the criminals who'd kidnapped Ami a month earlier. "Yeah, bronchitis can be really bad this time of year... Dr. Mizuno is in apartment 722, on the seventh floor. Say hi to her for me, okay?"

"Thank you, ma'am," said the tall man with a smile and a nod. He signaled his shorter accomplice over to the elevator. Once both men were inside, the door closed, and the tall man pressed '7' on the elevator panel, signalling that they wanted to go to the seventh floor. As the elevator quickly made its way up, the tall man put the bouquet of flowers into a large, green bag that the short man was holding.

"I can't believe she just let us through like that," replied the shorter man, rubbing his palms together. "I mean, aren't receptionists in apartment buildings like these trained to spot suspicious people?"

"I guess she needs more training," said the taller man with a chuckle.

Once the elevator reached the top floor, the two men stepped out and made their way down the hall to room 722. As they walked, they began to tense up, recalling their embarassment at the hands of their would-be ransom captive a month earlier.

"What if we get in there and she recognizes us?" asked the shorter man, referring to Ami, whom the men knew could transform at any moment. "I mean, she could turn into Sailor Mercury, and then we'll be-"

"That's why we have to be quick," said the taller man. "Besides, with any luck, her mother will be here too. If we put her mother in danger, we can make Ami do whatever we want."

"Good thinking," said the shorter man, his nervousness beginning to fade as the two criminals neared the Mizunos' apartment. _"There's no time to be chicken now... we just gotta remember why we're here! We're here to get revenge!"_

-

Criminals, kidnappings, revenge plots... those were the furthest things from Miyeka Mizuno's mind as she sat down at her kitchen table to eat her supper, a small salad sprinkled with crutons and just enough dressing to bring out the flavor of the lettuce and tomatoes. She'd had a fairly hectic day at the hospital, with several people suffering from pneumonia because of the cold weather, and she'd forgotten to take off her white doctor's jacket when she came home. Her daughter was going to supper with a friend, and while she was happy that Ami was probably having a good time, she still missed having her daughter's companionship, as suppertime was usually the only time mother and daughter Mizuno had to speak with one another about the day's events.

That time had become especially precious a month ago, when Miyeka's beloved daughter was kidnapped by a pair of vicious thugs. Miyeka still remembered seeing her daughter's terrified face on the fax the criminals had sent, and remembered even more vividly her daughter's muffled cries as the criminals forced her to speak over the phone.

_"If it hadn't been for Shingo, my Ami might have been... would have been..."_ No, it was too unpleasant for Dr. Mizuno to even begin to think about. What was important was that Ami was safe and the criminals who had kidnapped her were in jail, where, Miyeka was sure, they would remain for a long, long time.

Miyeka was a short woman, just a couple of inches taller than her daughter. She had a slender build, with average-sized arms and long, slender legs. Her face was slightly taller than her daughter's, and her hair was slightly longer, though still not going down much farther than her neck. At 41, she was fairly attractive for her age. She wore a modest black sweater under her white doctor's jacket, as well as a pair of white khaki pants.

A knock at the door abruptly interrupted Miyeka's meal. She sighed, pushed aside her salad, and walked over to the door, wondering if Ami was already back from dinner.

As she opened the door, she was slightly startled when she didn't see Ami, but two men standing in front of her, both taller than she was, one about a few inches taller than the other. She didn't immediately recognize their faces, having seen them only from news reports of her daughter's kidnapping. She hadn't looked at them as they were hauled to the police station, nor as her daughter Ami picked them out of a lineup.

Thus, the memory hadn't quite been burned into her mind, and she was left vulnerable to their dangerous plan.

"Hello... are the two of you at the wrong apartment?" asked Miyeka in as friendly a tone as she could.

"No, we're at the right apartment..." said the tall man, a smile beginning to form on his face. "Dr. Mizuno."

While the doctor hadn't recognized the men's faces, she certainly recognized their voices, and she immediately became filled with dread. Her lip trembled, and she began to shut the door, not caring if the men were there to apologize or to inflict further harm on her daughter. The two criminals quickly denied Dr. Mizuno the opportunity, rushing into the room and causing Miyeka to stumble back toward the far wall.

"Hel-" began Miyeka before the shorter man's hand clasped tightly over her lips. As she reared back her fist to strike him, the taller man seized her by the wrists and pushed her back toward the couch. Before Miyeka could resist further, she slipped on the carpet and fell to the floor, taking the shorter man with her. As he collapsed to the floor with a loud thud, Miyeka tried to stand and emit another scream. Immediately the taller man was upon her, lunging down and shoving a thick white cloth between the doctor's lips. "Mmmgh!"

"Quick, give me another cloth!" shouted the taller man. His accomplice crawled to the bag that had been dropped onto the floor in the center of the room. He seized a thin, silky black cloth from the bag and handed it to the tall man, who quickly tied it between Miyeka's lips to hold in the white packing. Miyeka was silenced, but she wasn't immobilized, and she thrust out both of her legs, striking her taller captor in the stomach. As he flopped backward, Miyeka quickly rushed to her feet and ran to the door of her apartment.

_"I have to get out of here and get the police!"_ thought Miyeka, not even bothering to remove her gag. But before she could get to the door, it slammed shut, the shorter man smiling and stepping in front of the now-sealed exit.

"Going somewhere, doctor?" asked the shorter man, his arms crossed over his chest. With a muffled cry of frustration, Miyeka ran at the man, her arms flailing as she attempted to strike him in the face. Quick as a flash, the taller man grabbed her from behind, seizing her wrists in his tight grasp.

"Don't even think about it!" shouted the tall man, still slightly winded from being kicked earlier. Using the leverage he'd gained by taking control of Miyeka's arms, he forced the blue-haired woman to the ground, her arms still pinned behind her back. He then looked up at his accomplice, who was rummaging through the green bag in the middle of the floor. "Hurry up and get over here!"

The short man pulled another silky black cloth out of the bag. The cloth was about four or five times longer than the one that had been used to gag Miyeka. The man ran over to the struggling doctor and began wrapping the cloth around her wrists, being careful to make the loops nice and tight.

_"This can't be happening!"_ Miyeka thought desperately, trying to use her legs to kick either of her captors. Since the two men were on each side of her, away from her legs, the kicks were futile, serving as only a minor inconvience to the two bigger, stronger criminals. "Mmmph!"

Not only was Miyeka baffled by the fact that the two criminals who had abducted her daughter just a month earlier were now coming to take her, but she was furious that they'd actually have the nerve to try such a stunt. Miyeka had thought that these two horrible men were out of she and Ami's life forever, but as a silken black cloth tightened tightly around her wrists, the doctor realized she'd been horribly wrong.

"We'd better tie her legs too," said the shorter man, pointed at Miyeka's legs, which were still furiously thrashing, despite the fact that the doctor's hands had been tightly bound behind her back. "That way, we won't have to worry about her kicking us."

"Good idea," said the taller man, walking over to the green bag and grabbing the first thing he saw: a roll of silver duct tape. He took out the tape and began wrapping several layers of the sticky adhesive tightly around Miyeka's thrashing ankles. Not satisfied with this, he then bound Miyeka's legs twice more, both just above and just below her knees.

"Mmmph!" Miyeka screamed as her most effective physical weapons were quickly made useless by about twelve layers of duct tape. _"So much for kicking them..."_

Miyeka was now beginning to resign herself to her fate. Her arms and legs were pratically useless, and screaming wasn't going to do much good either, unless she could make herself heard through the white cloth held securely between her lips.

This wasn't about her, this was about Ami. Miyeka suspected that from the moment the criminals had forced their way inside... had Ami been here, she likely would've been their first target. Were they actually brazen enough to try and kidnap her again? Or was this about revenge, thought Miyeka, revenge for helping the police apprehend them? If revenge was their motive, shouldn't they be going after Ami's friend Shingo, and not Ami?

But Miyeka, a kind woman at heart, wouldn't wish what was happening to her at the moment on anyone, not her daughter, and not the boy who'd saved her daughter's life.

_"If anything,"_ thought Miyeka, still struggling slightly as the men used more duct tape to bind her arms to her back both above and below her breasts, _"I'm glad Ami's not here to be going through this... that would be the LAST thing I'd want to happen..."_

"There," said the taller man, gently rolling Miyeka over on her back with his foot. "All done. Now, aren't you comfortable?"

Miyeka simply glared up at the man, her eyes a mixture of anger and fear. A couple of sweatdrops trickled down her face.

"Now, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions," said the tall man, reaching up to the black cloth holding the stuffing in Miyeka's mouth. "You're going to answer quietly and politely. If you try to scream..."

Suddenly, Miyeka could feel the cold, steel barrel of a revolver pressed against the side of her head. The shorter man held the gun with his finger on the trigger. As Miyeka heard the click of the gun cocking, she began to tremble, and had to fight to keep a tear from escaping her eyes.

_"These men are serious..."_ Miyeka thought, squinting her eyes and knowing that the end could come at any moment. _"I hope Ami doesn't come back... if she does... something horrible could happen..."_

The black cloth tied around Miyeka's mouth loosened, and then was slowly slipped down from her lips. Next, the packing was gently removed from Miyeka's mouth, allowing the doctor to take in a large breath. Immediately, the tall man's hand clasped down tightly over her mouth.

"What did I say about trying to scream?" whispered the man into Miyeka's ear, his hand still firmly clamped over her lips.

"Mmmmm mmm!" Miyeka squeaked through the tall man's hand, trying furiously to calm him down. _"No, please! I wasn't trying to scream!"_

Slowly, the man's hand slipped away from Miyeka's mouth, allowing her to speak.

"I just..." Miyeka began slowly, still short of breath, "wanted to catch... my breath. It's hard to breathe with your mouth completely stuffed, you know."

"Just breathe through your nose, then," replied the shorter man. "You'd better get used to breathing through your nose for a while."

_"What does he mean by that?"_ thought Miyeka, her eyes glancing over to the man who was still holding a gun to her head. _"They're going to gag me again, aren't they?"_

"Now, I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to tell me the truth, got it?" asked the taller man. "And remember what happens if you try to scream. Now, tell me. Where is your daughter?"

"I'm not going to tell you," said Miyeka in a determined voice, "and you can torture me all you want, you can kill me, I don't care, I will NEVER, ever tell you anything that's going to help you hurt her."

The taller man became enraged at this show of defiance, and raised his hand to strike Miyeka in the face. But before he could bring down his hand, his partner reached up and seized him by the wrist.

"She's right, we'll never get it out of her," said the shorter man, showing a rare hint of intelligence. The taller man, still angry that Miyeka had refused to answer his question, briefly tried to wrench his fist from his partner's grasp. Quickly, however, he realized his partner was right. He lowered both of his hands and picked up the white cloth from the floor.

"That's all right... if you won't tell us where Ami is, we'll let her come to us," said the man. Before Miyeka could speak, the cloth was stuffed firmly between her lips, and the black cloth was quickly tied on top to keep the packing inside. "Besides, I have another plan."

"And that would be...?" began the shorter man, putting away his revolver and rising to his feet.

"Here," said the tall man, reaching into the bag and pulling out a camcorder. "Take this and make a little movie that we're going to have Ami watch when she gets back. I've got a phonecall to make."

The tall man walked into the Mizunos' kitchen, where he had spotted a phone earlier. The shorter man looked at the camcorder for a few seconds, then pointed it at Miyeka and smiled, pressing the red 'Record' button on the side of the device.

"Hmmmph gmbgh!" muffled Miyeka, struggling as the criminal began filming her struggles. _"This has to be the most embarassing day of my life... not only am I bound and gagged, but this bastard has a camera on me..."_

"Ami," said the shorter man in a loud, booming voice, pointing the camera at Miyeka's gagged and bound form, "if you're watching this, you know that your mother is in our captivity! Follow our demands and she won't get hurt!"

"MMMPH! HMMM MMM!" shouted Miyeka, trying to wriggle out of the camera's view. "Mmmbgh mmm! Mmmph mmph mmph!"

"I'm gonna have to make a copy of this for myself," said the short man to himself as he continued to film the bound and gagged doctor.

_"These sick freaks are going to use me to get to Ami... just the reverse of how it was a month ago,"_ thought Miyeka, desperately trying to figure out a way to escape the terrible predicament she was in. Her fingers furiously tried to reach the knot binding her wrists, but the criminals had tied it just out of her reach, snugly between a loop of the silken cloth between her hands. The tape binding her legs had no give whatsoever, which meant that no matter how hard Miyeka struggled, it would be impossible for her to escape.

Escape that would not only save herself, but her daughter Ami, whom Miyeka knew was going to be lead into a trap. Only this time, the ransom wasn't for money. It was for Ami's life... something that could never be replaced. Something that Miyeka knew was in jeopardy.

The tall man walked into the room. He grabbed the camera from his accomplice and looked directly into the lens.

"If you want your mother back alive, come to the magnesium processing factory on the east side of the Juuban district," said the tall man. "And come alone."

The camcorder was shut off, and the tape inside rewound and set on the floor.

"NOW we're going," said the tall man, walking over to Miyeka and picking up her bound legs. The shorter man ran over and picked up Miyeka's head, and the two men hoisted the doctor off of the floor. She struggled mightilly in their grasp, but she clearly wasn't able to do anything to stop them from taking her wherever they wanted.

"The magnesium factory?" asked the shorter man as the two carried Miyeka over to the bedroom and began rolling her up in a sheet in order to conceal her from view. "But aren't there going to be people there?"

"My friend works as the foreman there tonight," said the taller man as the two finished rolling up the sheet around Miyeka. The doctor's face was completely covered, as well as her body. The sheet was fairly thin, so Miyeka could breathe, though with some difficulty. "I asked him to clear out the place. It should be empty by the time we get there."

"But why the magnesium factory?" asked the shorter man as the two carried Miyeka over to the door.

"Because you can't expose magnesium to water, or it ignites," said the tall man, using one hand to hold up Miyeka's legs and his other hand to open the door to the apartment. "So if Ami tries to transform into Sailor Mercury, and she uses any of her ice attacks..."

"KABOOM!" shouted the short man, probably a little louder than he should have. "You're a genius!"

Through the sheet, Miyeka could hear the men's conversation. When the criminals mentioned that Ami could transform into Sailor Mercury, Miyeka sounded a muffled cry of surprise.

_"What did they say?" _thought Miyeka, straining to hear what the men were saying, as her sense of sight was rendered useless by the sheet wrapped about her body. _"I could have sworn I heard them saying something about my daughter and Sailor Mercury..."_

But of course, that wasn't important now. What was important was getting someone to stop these two men from removing Miyeka from her apartment. If she could only signal someone, ANYONE who could help...

The two men got Miyeka to the ground floor without incident. As they walked out into the lobby, however, the nervousness they'd experienced while they were on the seventh floor returned. There were several people in the lobby, including the receptionist, who'd seen the men coming up with flowers and a large, green bag. Now the men had the bag as well as something else... something that looked suspiciously like a human body, wrapped in a sheet. Miyeka realized that the men were in the lobby, and took the opportunity to make as much noise as she could.

"MMMMMMPH!" shouted Miyeka, hoping that her muffled screams could be heard through the gag in her mouth and the sheet wrapped around her face. It was Ami's only hope. "MMMPH! MMMPH!"

"Good evening... what's that white thing you're carrying?" asked the receptionist. Thinking quickly, the tall man quickly replied with the best lie he could think of.

"Um... the doctor wanted us to carry these sheets out to the dumpster for her," said the man, "and I figured it'd be nice to help her out, seeing as she did cure my bronchitis for me...

"Well, that sounds awfully nice of you!" said the receptionist, a friendly smile on her face. "I don't know why the doctor would want to throw away perfectly good sheets, but hey, she's the one who graduated from college, not me!"

With a giggle, the receptionist waved goodbye to the men as they walked out the front door of the apartment complex.

"MMMMM!" Miyeka screamed, a feeling of hopelessness overtaking her as she felt the cold night air through the sheets and realized the men had gotten outside with her. _"If I get out of this, that receptionist is SO fired..."_

The men took Miyeka into the parking garage and walked up to their car. They unwrapped the sheet from her body, then immediately threw her in the trunk and closed it, giving her no time to signal anyone for help.

"Mmmmmph!" Miyeka screamed, furiously kicking at the trunk lid with her bound feet. "Mmmph mmph mmph!"

"And now to get to that factory," said the tall man as he climbed into the driver's seat, giving his partner a high-five.

"I can't BELIEVE we pulled that off!" said his accomplice excitedly, knowing that the criminals' plan was halfway complete.

The car pulled out of the garage and raced off toward the Juuban district and the magnesium factory that, if the two criminals had anything to say about it, would be Sailor Mercury's last stand.

_"It looks like your Mercury bubble has just burst, ice princess..."_ thought the tall man, smiling wider than he'd ever smiled before.

-

"Thank you so much, Shingo... I had a wonderful evening."

Shingo and Ami stood outside the door of the Mizunos' apartment, completely unaware of what had taken place just a little less than an hour ago. It was getting close to seven-thirty now, and the two teenagers had been out longer than they'd expected. Ever since that day a month ago when Shingo had bravely rescued Ami from her criminal captors (with a little help from Ami herself, of course), the two had had much more contact with one another then they'd previously had before the kidnapping incident. A few days after the first kidnapping, Ami was kidnapped again... not by criminals, but by her friends Usagi and Rei in a tie-up game that had quickly gotten out of control. Both Shingo and Ami still fondly remembered that night (including tickle-torturing Usagi, Rei, and Minako for several hours after they'd gotten back from the movie they went to after the game), and their several, more 'normal' dates afterward. They'd gone out several times during the past month, and even Ami realized that she was growing fonder of Shingo everyday. She knew Shingo deeply loved her, that was a fact. It seemed like the only thing stopping her from completely reciprocating his love was, well... the age difference between the two. Ami was 16, and Shingo was 13. If their ages were reversed, maybe, just maybe Ami could see it working... after all, Mamoru was several years older than Usagi, and their relationship went just fine.

But because Ami was older... a girl being three whole years older than the boy she was dating was almost completely unheard of. Girls matured faster than boys... mentally, Ami was probably five or six years older than Shingo. Shingo, of course, didn't mind the difference, but Ami was acutely aware of it... but she still couldn't find the heart to tell Shingo that the relationship wouldn't work out.

Especially when there was a chance, albeit a very, very remote one, that it could.

"You're welcome, Ami... I had a wonderful evening too," Shingo replied. Every time he went out with Ami, he had this... _special_ feeling that he didn't have any other time. Every time her hand brushed against his cheek, his entire body tingled, and his heart rate skyrocketed. It wasn't just a physical feeling, it was something inside of Shingo, deep within his soul... he loved Ami. He knew it, no matter what anyone said. "I... I love you, Ami."

Ami smiled and kissed Shingo briefly on the cheek.

"Thanks again, Shingo," Ami said, starting to turn the knob on the door to her apartment. Shingo always told Ami he loved her at the end of every single date, and every time, Ami returned his comment with a simple 'thank you'. She'd never actually told him that she loved him, because... she simply didn't. Sure, he was a very dear friend, but... nothing more. Then why did she keep teasing Shingo by kissing him? Was it because she knew how good it made him feel and she wanted to be nice? Or subconsciously, was there some other reason? _"I'm sorry I can't return your love..."_

Shingo, still smiling, looked back at Ami as he walked down the hallway toward the elevator. She gave him one last look, returned his smile, then walked into her apartment and closed the door behind her.

"Mom? Are you home?" Ami asked, hanging up her light blue jacket on the coat hanger just inside the door and looking around for her mother. "Mom? Are you... what's this?"

Ami spotted the videotape on the ground. A small piece of paper, pasted to the top of the video by a strip of duct tape, read simply, 'WATCH THIS, AMI' in big capital letters. With a look of surprise on her face, Ami walked over to the television and turned it on.

"That's strange..." Ami whispered to herself as she placed the tape in the VCR. "I don't remember telling mom to tape anything for me..."

Immediately, a loud, muffled cry filled the room. Ami's eyes glanced at the television screen. There, she saw a sight that filled her with dread.

_"Hmmmph gmbgh!" muffled Ami's mother, Miyeka, struggling as the criminal began filming her struggles. _

"Ami," said the shorter man in a loud, booming voice, pointing the camera at Miyeka's gagged and bound form, "if you're watching this, you know that your mother is in our captivity! Follow our demands and she won't get hurt!"

"MMMPH! HMMM MMM!" shouted Miyeka, trying to wriggle out of the camera's view. "Mmmbgh mmm! Mmmph mmph mmph!"

"MOM!" Ami shrieked, watching her mother's helpless struggles on the videotape.

_The tall man walked into the room. He grabbed the camera from his accomplice and looked directly into the lens. _

"If you want your mother back alive, come to the magnesium processing factory on the east side of the Juuban district," said the tall man. "And come alone."

The video faded out. Ami ejected the tape and somberly set it down on top of the television.

"Those men..." said Ami quietly, "they're the same men that kidnapped me... the ones that know my identity... what do they want with mom?"

Ami collapsed to her knees, fighting back sobs. From the looks of the tape, her mother looked extremely terrified, and Ami knew that the criminals holding her would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

"They know... they know I'm Sailor Mercury..." said Ami, still on the ground. "They kidnapped my mom so I'll come right to them... but why the magnesium plant?"

Deeply distressed over her mother's current situation, Ami completely forgot the scientific ramifications of fighting in a magnesium plant. She withdrew her Mercury transformation wand from the pocket of her skirt, then raised it above her head.

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

In a flash, Ami had transformed into the Senshi of Water, Sailor Mercury.

_"Mom, I promise I'll get you back..."_ thought Sailor Mercury as she ran out of the apartment. _"I won't let those criminals get away with kidnapping you!"_

-

Shingo, who had locked up his red mountain bike on a rack just outside the parking garage, was getting ready to return home to his family. Usagi had challenged him to a tie-up rematch, and Shingo couldn't wait to embarass his big sister yet again.

As he pedaled out toward the street, he thought he saw a shadowy figure out of the corner of his eye. Glancing toward the nearby apartment complex, he noticed someone running out of a side door and into a grove of bushes.

_"That's weird..."_ Shingo thought to himself, pedalling over to the bushes. _"I wonder where they're going so quickly..."_

Shingo got off his bike and peered through the bushes. There, he clearly saw a blue-haired girl, running down the sidewalk in a blue and white sailor outfit.

_"That's Ami!"_ Shingo thought, being able to recognize Ami's beautiful blue hair from anywhere. _"And she's transformed! But why?"_

Aside from the battle with the kidnappers, Shingo had never seen Ami fight before as Sailor Mercury. With a mix of excitement and concern, Shingo got back on his bike and followed the Senshi of Water down the sidewalk, making sure that she couldn't see him and rebuke him for following her into a battle.

_"Wherever she goes,"_ Shingo thought to himself, _"I'll keep at a safe distance... Ami wouldn't want me getting blasted because of her..."_

Sailor Mercury could run much faster than a normal human, and even on his ten-speed bike, Shingo had serious trouble keeping up.

_"Besides,"_ thought Shingo to himself, _"after all this pedaling, I'll be too tired to help her fight anybody..."_

-

After ten minutes of full-speed running, Sailor Mercury finally reached the magnesium processing plant on the east edge of Juuban. It was a large complex consisting of three buildings over one hundred feet tall and nearly the size of a football field.

_"How am I going to find mom in a place like this?"_ thought Mercury, walking up to a large, metallic gate in front of the first building. "Mercury Ice Bubbles Freeze!"

As the magical bubbles slammed into the gate, it quickly froze solid, and then shattered into a million pieces. Mercury walked into the building and was immediately confronted by a room nearly ninety feet tall and over two hundred feet wide. The smell of industrial fumes sifted into her nostrils.

"Magnesium," Mercury said to herself, walking into the enormous processing room. "These fumes are dangerous in large doses..."

In the center of the room were two tall, wide vats of boiling magnesium. The vats were thirty feet tall and about ten feet in diameter. Sailor Mercury walked toward the vats with a sense of trepidation. The room was lit only by the white-hot glow from the vats, a glow that grew stronger and stronger as the nervous Senshi drew closer.

"Looking for someone?" came a voice from the other side of the room. Sailor Mercury turned to her right 90 degrees and saw two very familiar men standing next to a large control panel.

"Where's my mother?" shouted Sailor Mercury, knowing that concealing her identity was useless in front of these two criminals, who already knew exactly who she was.

"Look up," said the taller man, pulling a lever on the control panel. When Sailor Mercury looked up, she could see a long chain moving sideways just below the room's ceiling, in a pulley-like fashion. Soon, Miyeka Mizuno came into view, and a loud, muffled scream emanated from above one of the vats.

"MMMMPH!" Miyeka screamed. The doctor, still wearing her work clothes, was dangling above the right-side vat of boiling magnesium, hanging from her wrists, which were chained high above her head. Her legs, bound with duct tape, were dangling helplessly below her. Her mouth was stuffed with a white cloth, with a thin black cloth tied over it. The gag was re-inforced by two strips of silver duct tape, pressed over the cloth gag in an 'X' pattern. Though she must have been more than four stories above the ground, Miyeka's terrified expression was still clearly visible to her Senshi daughter. _"Is that... Ami? It looks like Sailor Mercury... oh my God, they were right!"_

Miyeka now realized the truth... her daughter was, in fact, the Senshi of Water, Sailor Mercury. But Miyeka also knew that it would do her little good. Sailor Mercury's powers were water-based... if she tried to use them near a volatile metal like magnesium, the result would be horrific. Miyeka knew that her daughter knew this, but nevertheless tried to warn her through the gag.

"Mmmmi! Mmph mmph mghmmmhmm mmmph mmph! _Ami, you can't use your powers near magnesium! You'll kill us both!_"

Miyeka's gagged cries were unintelligible, however, and Sailor Mercury was determined to set her mother free. Still completely forgetting the danger of water mixing with magnesium, she began summoning an attack.

_"Are you CRAZY?"_ thought the shorter man, watching as Sailor Mercury began signalling for a water attack. "Boss, I knew this was a bad id-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the tall man, his expression calm and menacing. "I really thought you were smarter than that, Ami."

Now Mercury knew what her mother had been trying to say. She barely managed to stop herself from attacking, immediately chastising herself for almost assuring her mother's death.

_"Of course... that's why they had me come to a magnesium plant,"_ thought Sailor Mercury, beginning to come to a horrifying conclusion. _"If I use my powers, we'll all die... I'm as helpless as mom..."_

"So now you see how pointless it is to try and resist," said the tall man, pointing at a large red button on the control console. "If I press this button, the chain your mother is on will immediately drop into the vat of magnesium, and she'll be instantly burnt to a crisp. That means that my friend and I here hold all the cards."

"What do you want?" asked Sailor Mercury, looking at the two criminals while occasionally glancing back at her mother. "I'll do anything you want, just... please let my mother go... she didn't do anything to you!"

"If she'd given us the ransom money like we asked, we'd have let you go and none of this would have to happen," said the shorter man.

"Besides, we said we wouldn't hurt your mother... as long as you do everything we say," said the tall man. He walked over to an industrial frame that had been lowered from the ceiling. It was a tall, metallic frame supported by a crane that could raise and lower it whenever someone used the controls on the console. The frame was about seven feet tall, consisting of two white metallic beams that diverged out of the crane, curving outward and then regressing slightly, all the way down to a small wooden square at the bottom of the frame, where the two beams branched out into small legs that connected with the square. Between the beams were four black rubber drums that were placed toward the middle of the frame, each drum separated by about nine inches, with the fourth drum from the top seperated from the others by about eighteen inches. "Come over here, Ami."

Seeing no other option, Sailor Mercury reluctantly walked over to the frame, wondering what the two criminals could possibly have planned.

"If you want me to detransform, I-"

"No, that's quite all right," said the tall man, signalling Mercury to stop in front of the frame. "We don't want to embarass Ami Mizuno... we want to embarass _Sailor Mercury_."

"Mmmpgh!" shouted Miyeka desperately. _"Don't do what they say, Ami! I don't care if they kill me! You have to get out of here now! They're going to kill us both!"_

But even if Miyeka could talk, she doubted Ami would listen. Ami loved her as much as she loved Ami, and neither of them would ever be willing to forsake the other. It was a love that would probably, by the end of the night, get them both killed.

"Put your arms behind the first drum, shoulders apart, wrists together," said the tall man. Sailor Mercury did as she was told, bending her arms behind the drum as far as they would go. It was a rather uncomfortable position, but she didn't care. As long as her mother was safe, she'd go through anything. The thought that the criminals may never plan to actually release her mother never crossed her mind.

The shorter man took several long, thin magnesium wires and began using them to bind Sailor Mercury's arms. The man yanked off Mercury's gloves and threw them to the ground. Then, he wrapped the wires around Mercury's wrists, binding them tightly together. Running one strand of wire through the loops, he was able to form an effective, inescapable wire mesh that kept the Senshi's wrists tightly bound. Next, the man tied rope above and below Sailor Mercury's elbows, using the wire to tightly bind her arms to the rubber drum. Mercury winced as the wire pressed into her skin, not out of pain, which she surprisingly didn't feel even as the wire pressed into her delicate wrists. Instead, she winced from the growing sense of helplessness she began to feel as the two criminals bound her body, the exact same feeling of helpless she had the last time the two men had bound her. That kidnapping, which had seemed so long ago, now felt like it was only yesterday to the blue-haired girl. That, plus the fact that she was being bound not as Ami, but as Sailor Mercury, enhanced her feeling of helplessness almost a hundredfold. This time, there would be no transformation trump card. Once bound, Ami was staying bound. She couldn't use her powers to escape because her bonds were made of magnesium, which would explode on contact with water OR ice.

The next wires were tied above and below Sailor Mercury's shoulders and connected with the bonds on her elbows, which in turn were connected to the rubber drum. Next, her wrists were immobilized by wires looped above and below her breasts, and then fixed to the wires already tied around her arms. The next wires were tied around her waist, then connected to the wires binding her wrists and arms to the first drum.

After those bonds were secured, the criminals suddenly grabbed Sailor Mercury's legs and bent them upward, forcing them through the gap between the first and second rubber drums from the top. They barely fit, and the end result was Sailor Mercury's stomach being clenched between the first and second drums.

"Mmmmph mmmph mmmph!" screaming Miyeka from her perch high above the vat of boiling magnesium. _"What are you doing to my baby?"_

Wires were then tied tightly around Sailor Mercury's upper legs. These wires were then connected to the third drum, over which her knees were bent forward. Her knees were secured next, with several wire loops both above and below her knees, connecting them to the drum and tied around the wires binding Mercury's upper legs. The contortion Mercury's body was now forced into was becoming extremely uncomfortable, and that, combined with the heat from the white-hot magnesium vat nearby, quickly caused the Senshi's face to become drenched with sweat.

_"Please be over soon..."_ thought Sailor Mercury, wincing as the wires connecting her body to the frame were checked and tightened. _"The sooner all of this is over, the sooner mom will be safe... I'm so sorry..."_

"Hanging in there?" asked the shorter man, putting his blue-haired captive on the cheek. "Don't worry... just a little more to go."

Wire was then tightly looped around Sailor Mercury's ankles, binding them together and then connecting them to the fourth drum, placed about a foot from the frame's wooden bottom. Finally, the bottom of Mercury's boots were secured to the frame by a dozen loops of wire, binding them to the drum as well as to each other. Finally, after one last round of checking and tightening, the binding of Sailor Mercury to an industrial frame was finally complete. Her body had been contorted in and out of the frame, weaving through its strategically placed drums like an immobilized snake. She struggled briefly, but the bonds held fast, completely melding her body to the frame.

"Now will you let my mother go?" asked Sailor Mercury, angrily glaring at the criminals. "Please... I did everything you asked me to do. Now it's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain."

"All right, all right," said the tall man. He signaled to his accomplice to fish something out of their large, green bag. "But first, there's one last thing we want you to do."

-

Shingo had been standing outside of the factory for ten minutes, looking for a window so he could get a glance of the action. Finally, after climbing up a large stack of boxes, he reached a small window that was about ten feet off of the ground. He peered inside and looked around for Sailor Mercury.

"Ami?" Shingo whispered, peering inside the building, his eyes glancing nervously back and forth. "Is the fight over? Did you guys win? Heh, of course you guys won, you're the Sailor Sen-"

Suddenly, Shingo saw something that caused him to gasp and stumble back, almost looking his balance and falling off the stack of crates. Finally, he regained his composure and looked back inside the building. There, he saw his beloved Ami, bound tightly and securely to an industrial frame. Two men were pointing and laughing at her.

"AMI!" Shingo shouted, almost but not quite loud enough for Sailor Mercury and the criminals to hear. _"What happened? Those look like... those guys that kidnapped Ami last month! No, it can't be!"_

Shingo hopped off of the crates and looked back up to the window.

"What am I gonna do?" Shingo said to himself, frantically pacing back and forth. Despite the coldness of the December air, he was sweating profusely, and he had to wipe the sweat from his face every ten seconds or so. "I can't just bust up in there, can I? I did last time... but this time they'll be expecting that! And she's not Ami this time, she's Sailor Mercury... how did they possibly get Sailor Mercury trapped like that? Oh, what am I gonna do?"

-

As Shingo lamented outside, Sailor Mercury and her mother, Miyeka, sweated it out on the inside of the magnesium factory. The short man now had his camcorder pointed directly at the bound Senshi's face, and now, he was going to make a movie for the ages.

"Hello, citizens of the world," said Sailor Mercury in as calm a tone as she could, her eyes glancing back and forth from the camera lens as she spoke. "My name... is Ami Mizuno. Not Sailor Mercury, as you probably know me as, but Ami Mizuno, a second-year high school student from the Juuban prefecture of Tokyo, Japan. Right now, I am being held captive by two... brilliant criminal masterminds in a secret location. They captured me because I was weak and they were strong. After this video finishes filming, I will be killed by two people far stronger and smarter than I am. Goodbye."

The shorter man stopped the tape and began clapping. Sailor Mercury, her pride completely eradicated, hung her head in shame, again fighting the tears that were about to come to her eyes.

"Now... you'll let my mother go?" pleaded Sailor Mercury, looking up at the two criminals.

"Well, I thought about that," said the taller man, a sly smile on his face. The man's expression told Sailor Mercury everything she needed to know, and she began struggling and thrashing against her metallic bonds.

"You said you'd let my mother go!" Sailor Mercury shrieked, her voice a terrified amalgam of fury and fear. "You said-"

"I say a lot of things," said the tall man, now holding a roll of duct tape in his hand and stretching out a strip. "But then I realized how fun it would be to watch you and your mother burn together!"

"NO!" Sailor Mercury screamed, her hands clenching into fists as she struggled harder and harder. "NO NO NO NO-"

The tape was stretched tightly over the struggling Senshi's lips, and then wrapped around several times, Sailor Mercury's muffled protests getting quieter and quieter with each turn of the tape. Finally, after wrapping the tape around Mercury's head twenty times, the man ripped off the strip and smoothed out the tape over Sailor Mercury's face.

"MMMMM!" Sailor Mercury screamed, watching helplessly as the two men walked over to the control console and lifted the industrial frame up and over the magnesium vat on the left-hand side. _"How could I have been so stupid? I should have KNOWN that they wouldn't live up to their word! Oh, mother, I've failed us both..."_

As the frame stopped fifteen feet above the boiling vat of magnesium, Sailor Mercury continued to struggle and scream, despite the fact that it would do her no good.

"MMMMPH!" screamed Miyeka, struggling as furiously as her daughter was, even as tears began coursing down her face. _"Please, don't let them hurt my daughter!"_

Sailor Mercury glanced over at her mother, and could no longer keep the tears from falling down her face as well. She HAD failed her mother, and now, both of them would have to face the consequences. She emitted a muffled sob, letting her tears soak the front of her Senshi fuku.

"We're going to watch the two of you for a while," said the taller man. "Then, we're going to slowly lower you both into the vats. So for now, just relax and have fun, ladies! I mean, these are the last few minutes of your life..."

-

It may not have been a good plan, or even a below average one, but Shingo had a plan nonetheless. He'd stacked up as many of the crates as he could, and had used them to climb all the way to the roof. Once there, he ran over to a small window at the top of the roof and used a penknife he'd been carrying to pry it open. He opened the window and peered down inside... and was immediately confronted by the struggling, screaming form of Sailor Mercury, dangling about four feet below him on an industrial frame. He spotted a catwalk just beneath where her head was, and quickly jumped down onto it. Upon hearing the metallic clang of tennis shoes hitting metal catwalk, Sailor Mercury turned her head as much as she could... and saw her friend Shingo standing just behind her.

"Mmm-"

"Shh," said Shingo, lightly pressing his hand over Mercury's taped mouth. "I don't know what's going on here, but-"

Sailor Mercury gestured with her head to the other magnesium vat. Shingo turned and saw a woman, Dr. Mizuno, dangling above the vat by a thick metallic chain. He then turned back to Mercury.

"That's... that's your mom, isn't it?" Shingo asked quietly.

"Mm-hmm," muffled Sailor Mercury, replying with a nod. _"I wonder why the two criminals down there can't see Shingo? I guess it's because the glow from the magnesium is making it hard for them to see all the way up to the catwalk... Shingo, be careful..."_

"That's not good..." said Shingo, glancing once more at Miyeka, and then back to Sailor Mercury. _"So THAT'S how they were able to capture you so easily... I knew those bad guys couldn't beat you without using dirty tricks!"_

Shingo's eyes quickly drifted to the Senshi communicator around Mercury's wrist. The two men had forgotten to remove it while tying her up, probably unaware of its function. He quickly removed it from Sailor Mercury's wrist.

"This thing... you can talk to the other Sailor Senshi with it, right?" asked Shingo. Sailor Mercury nodded. "Good... we'd better get them here right now!"

-

"Where IS that little spore?" Usagi asked, sitting on her bed and rocking back and forth. "He's gotta get back here so we can tie him up!"

"I _really_ don't think we should be doing this," replied Makoto. "Four-on-one isn't exactly fair, is it?"

"That kid completely and utterly embarassed us last time, and I won't rest until he's bound, gagged, and screaming for mercy!" declared Minako.

"Uh, Mina-chan... if he's gagged, how can he scream for mercy?" asked Rei, an annoyed look on her face.

"Well-" Minako began before being interrupted by a loud beeping noise. The noise was coming from Usagi's Senshi wrist communicator.

"Ami?" said Usagi, activating the communicator. "Are you-"

-

"USAGI?" Shingo shouted as soon as he saw the face on the other end of the communicator. "How did you-"

"Shingo, what the heck? What are you doing with Ami's communicator?" shrieked Usagi. "Um... this isn't what it looks like!"

"It looks like _you're_ Sailor Moon, sis," said Shingo, a wide grin on his face. "Well, at least it's SOMEONE I know. Look, you've gotta get down to the magnesium plant right away!"

"And why is that?" asked Rei, glaring at Shingo on the communicator screen. "How do I know it's not just you and Ami playing a trick on-"

"Shingo's a spore, not an EVIL spore," said Usagi, running over to her table and picking up her transformation wand. "We'll be right there!"

The communicator flashed off, and Shingo placed it in his pocket.

"I'll hold this for you until you're safe, Ami," said Shingo, looking into Mercury's eyes. "I promise."

Sailor Mercury looked back at Shingo, and for the first time since she'd recieved the video from the two criminals, she actually felt as if she and her mother would be safe. Shingo had saved her life once, and now, somehow, he was going to do it again. If Ami's lips hadn't been taped, Shingo would have seen a bright smile on her beautiful, blue-eyed face.

The tender moment was suddenly shattered by a loud, muffled scream coming from Miyeka's direction. The chain holding her suspended above the large vat of boiling magnesium had begun to slowly lower down toward the lethal pool. When Shingo turned back around, he could see that the industrial frame Sailor Mercury was bound to was also slowly moving downward. Both captives screamed through their gags, and Shingo lso let out a frantic yell.

"AMI!" Shingo shouted.

"Mmmmbgh!" Sailor Mercury screamed back. _"Shingo, my mother! Go and help my mother!"_

"Au revoire, ladies," said the tall man, smiling as he watched the two damsels slowly drop toward their deaths.

"It's been nice knowing you!" the short man chipped in. "Well, not really."

Shingo was racked with despair. Ami, the girl he loved, the girl he'd shared his first kiss with, the only girl who'd ever been nice to him no matter what, was about to meet a horrific end, along with her mother, and Shingo couldn't save either of them. He collapsed to his knees, his hands to his head, trying to block out the muffled, terrified screams from both Ami and Miyeka.

_"Ami, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"_ thought Shingo, shaking his head as tears began to form in his eyes. "AMI! I'M SO SORRY!"

Without even thinking, and without the slightest hesitation, Shingo ran to the edge of the catwalk and leapt off the precipice. Upon seeing Shingo leap to what apparently was his doom, Mercury let out a scream of agony that filled the entire building.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" Sailor Mercury screamed, closing her eyes and waiting to hear a sickening thud.

But instead of a thud, a loud 'clang' was heard as Shingo's feet hit the ground just a few feet in front of the left-side magnesium vat. His knees buckled, but did not break, and incredibly, he rose to his feet feeling nothing more than a slight twinge in his legs.

"What the..." Shingo said to himself, looking at his hands in amazement. "I leapt from forty-five feet up, I should be dead, or my legs should be broken, but..."

And then Shingo noticed a warm, light blue glow surrounding his entire body, from his toes all the way up to the top of his head. The glow was faint, but somehow, it had protected Shingo from harm.

Sailor Mercury, her frame still slowly moving down toward the boiling magnesium, opened her eyes and looked down at Shingo in amazement.

"Mmmm!" she cried out, a joyful squeal that immediately caused Shingo to look up and see the situation his beloved Ami and her mother were still in.

"Ami, I'm coming, just hold-"

"Kid, what the hell are you doing here?" said the tall man, his gun pointed right at Shingo's head. "I don't know how you knew we were here, but you're gonna die!"

"I don't think so," said Shingo, kicking the gun out of the man's hand. The gun skidded across the floor, but Shingo didn't bother to pick it up. Instead, he ran over to the control console as fast as he could, desperately trying to save Ami's life. He got about three-forths of the way before tripping and falling flat on his face.

"You're such a pain in the ass... I should've come after your mom too!" shouted the shorter man, who had tripped Shingo and now was trying to stomp him out of existance. Shingo rolled away from the man's stomps and climbed to his feet, staring the man straight in the eye.

"Get out of my way so I can save Ami and her mom," said Shingo, noticing that the control console was right behind the short man's back. The man smiled and shook his head.

"No, but if you want to watch them die, be my guest," the short man replied. "It's gonna be fun."

Shingo didn't reply. Instead, he threw himself to the floor, prostrating himself on the ground. Soon, the short man realized exactly why Shingo had done so when a bullet missed his side by just a few inches.

"HEY!" shouted the short man, shaking his fist. "Watch where you're shoot-"

Quick as one of the Senshi themselves, Shingo leapt upon the distracted criminal, throwing both of them to the ground.

"MMMMMMM!" screamed Ami's mother, her legs just a few feet away from the boiling magnesium below. Sailor Mercury was just as close to death, and becoming closer by the second. Shingo looked up and noticed the control console next to him. He reached up and slammed his hand down on the 'Stop Cranes' button. The apparatuses that had been lowering Ami and her mother toward the boiling liquid came to a screeching halt, stopping the two just four feet above the white-hot magnesium.

With a smile, Shingo wearily rose to his feet, thinking that the danger was finally over. The tall man grabbed him by the collar, quickly bringing the boy down to earth. The blue glow that had been surrounding Shingo had faded about a minute or two ago, and whatever power had sustained him earlier would be useless now.

"Any last words before I blow your head off and start the crane?" asked the tall man, his gun pointed at the trembling boy's neck.

"MMMMMMMPH!" Sailor Mercury muffled, her eyes widening in terror. _"Shingo, no!"_

"Put my brother down... NOW!" came a female voice from the entrance to the factory. Startled, the tall man released Shingo and turned toward the door. There, he saw four Sailor Senshi staring at him, all of them striking battle poses.

"Uh... I think we're screwed, boss," gulped the shorter man.

"I am Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice! And in the name of the Moon-"

"You don't have to say the motto to these guys, they're not Nega-trash," said Rei, clamping a gloved hand over Sailor Moon's mouth. "They're just regular trash."

"Sis, you came!" shouted Shingo, running to Sailor Moon's side.

"I don't think so," said the taller man, pointing his gun at Shingo's back.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

A golden magical energy chain looped itself around the tall man's wrist, causing him to drop his gun and fall to the ground. Sailor Venus smiled and gave a thumbs-up. At the same time, Sailor Jupiter ran over to the control console and began tinkering with the buttons.

"Let's see here..." she said, scanning the console for a way to lower her friends back to the ground. "Does this work?"

Jupiter pressed a button, and the two cranes began to lower... toward the magnesium.

"MMMMPH!" came the muffled cries from Sailor Mercury and her mother. Quickly, Jupiter pressed the 'Stop Cranes' button.

"Sorry," she said, looking at the other buttons on the machine. "How about... this one?"

The next button she pressed quickly raised the cranes to their original height, about fifteen feet above the magnesium.

"I can go get them," said Shingo, running out of the factory. "I know a way up."

"Alright, Shingo..." said Sailor Moon, using some of the criminals' duct tape to begin tying up the shorter of the two miscreants.

"Hey, wasn't there another one of them?" asked Sailor Mars, looking around the factory. "A taller guy?"

-

Shingo ran back out onto the catwalk and gently peeled the layers of tape from Sailor Mercury's lips, using the penknife to cut some of the tape from her hair. As he removed Mercury's gag, she licked her lips to get off some of the excess adhesive. Then, she began to speak.

"Shingo, go help my mother... she's been here longer than I have, I'd like her to be untied first."

Shingo nodded, then ran over to free Miyeka from her chains. The chains weren't actually locked, just tied, so with a bit of manipulation, Shingo was able to free the doctor. Then, he lifted her up and set her down on the catwalk.

"My, you're a strong boy, aren't you?" asked Miyeka as Shingo removed her gag. Shingo simply smiled and cut away the tape from her legs. "Thank you... thank you very much."

"No, Mrs. Mizuno... thank you for having such a wonderful daughter," said Shingo, smiling over at Sailor Mercury, then looking back at Miyeka. "I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm glad you're safe too, Shingo," said Miyeka, following Shingo over to Sailor Mercury and watching as he began cutting the wire holding her to the industrial frame. "My daughter's told me a lot about you."

The water Senshi nodded, flexing her wrists after Shingo cut away the wires in an attempt to get back some of the feeling in her hands. After about five minutes, Shingo had cut away the last of the wires, and Sailor Mercury was free.

"Shingo..." Sailor Mercury said, embracing him tightly as soon as she was free, tears coursing down her face. "I... I can't thank you enough for-"

"Thank him when he's dead..." said the tall man, limping onto the catwalk, his gun pointed at Shingo, Miyeka, and Sailor Mercury. "You... you bastard... you little brat... I may not get my revenge on Ami, but... I'm certainly going to get it on you..."

But before the man could even fire his gun, he slipped on one of the discarded magnesium wires and flew over the side of the catwalk, plummeting toward the boiling magnesium below. As a last, desperate attempt to save himself, he threw out his hand and caught the bottom of the catwalk with three of his fingers. Desperately he tried to claw his way back up, but to no avail. Sailor Mercury, feeling compassion for the criminal despite everything he'd put her, her mother, and Shingo through, reached out with her hand and called out to him.

"Take my hand!" shouted Sailor Mercury. "I'll pull you back up!"

The man, terrified for his life, slowly reached out with his other hand toward Sailor Mercury's.

"Ami, why are you helping him?" asked Miyeka, anger clouding her thoughts. "He tried to kill both of us!"

"He's a human being, just like you and me... everyone deserves to live," said Mercury, desperately reaching out to the man who had, just a half-hour ago, been her captor. "Please, just a little further!"

Suddenly, the wind outside shifted, and a large amount of snow blew in through the window above. As the snow drifted down toward the magnesium, Sailor Mercury knew what was about to happen. She extended her arm as much as she could, trying to save the man before it was too late.

"PLEASE, REACH!"

It was too late. An enormous explosion engulfed the left-side vat of magnesium, sending up a huge column of fire that blasted Shingo, Miyeka, and Sailor Mercury to the other side of the catwalk and incinerated the criminal instantly. The explosion knocked the other four Senshi, still on the ground, to their knees, and blasted the shorter man, who'd escaped from his bonds just a few seconds ago, into a far wall. A column that had been near the magnesium vat suddenly collapsed, falling toward the man. Sailor Moon ran over to try and save him, but it was too late.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Shingo, Sailor Mercury, and Miyeka rushed through the factory entrance, signaling to the other Senshi that they had to leave immediately. The magnesium factory was quickly going up in flames, and the seven survivors quickly made a hasty retreat.

-

An hour later, fire crews from all over Juuban had shown up to put out the blaze. As Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus watched the blaze from the roof of a nearby building, Ami (now detransformed from Sailor Mercury), Miyeka, and Shingo sat across the street from the blaze, sharing a small green bench. Ami sat between Miyeka and Shingo, her left hand holding Miyeka's right hand, and her right hand holding Shingo's left hand.

"I can't thank you enough for saving the lives of Ami and I," said Miyeka, an arm wrapped around her daughter's shoulder. "If you hadn't come when you did..."

"It's fine, really... I didn't want either of you to get hurt," said Shingo, smiling.

"If there's anything I can do for you, please, just ask me..." Miyeka said, looking over at Shingo.

"If I figure out something, I'll tell you," said Shingo, his glance shifting from Miyeka to Ami. "I'm just glad both of you are safe."

"Mom, I... I'm sorry that I couldn't-"

"Ami, it's alright... you're my daughter, and you _did_ save my life... you were very courageous in coming to that factory," said Miyeka, tightly embracing her daughter.

"You'd have done the same for me, mom..." Ami said, kissing her mother on the cheek.

After Miyeka and Ami hugged, Miyeka stood up, smiling at Ami and Shingo.

"After all that's happened today, I'm getting pretty tired," said Miyeka, glancing back and forth at the two teenagers sitting on the bench in front of her. "Ami, are you going to be alright?"

Ami looked at Shingo, then nodded.

"I'll be fine, mom... I'll come home soon," said Ami.

"Alright, dear..." said Miyeka, walking up to Shingo and smiling. "And again... thank you."

"I love you, mom..." said Ami, smiling warmly at her mother.

"I love you too, Ami," said Miyeka, giving Ami one last hug before turning and walking back down the sidewalk, toward home.

"You know, Ami... this makes the second time this month you've saved my life," said Shingo, smiling at her.

"What do you mean, Shingo?" Ami asked, smiling at him and gripping his hand a bit tighter. "You're the one who-"

"That glow... that glow that was around me when I jumped off the catwalk... that was you, Ami," said Shingo. "That was your power... I don't know how it got into me, but... somehow, you protected me. You _did_ save me, Ami. You AND your mother. You're the hero today."

Ami giggled, leaning her face toward Shingo's and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"You're the hero, Shingo... don't ever forget that," said Ami. "Just because you don't have magical powers doesn't mean you don't have magic in your heart."

"I love you, Ami..." said Shingo, wrapping his arms around Ami's back in a tight embrace. Ami returned his embrace, wrapping her arms around Shingo's back and looking up into the beautiful night sky.

_"It WAS my power flowing over to Shingo, but... I'm not even sure how I managed to do it,"_ thought Ami. _"But I guess it doesn't matter now... mom's safe, I'm safe, Shingo's safe..."_

Ami still hadn't told Shingo she loved him. She wasn't going to tell him that until she was sure she actually did love him. Maybe... maybe she did. One thing was for sure. She wasn't going to let anyone tell her how she felt. It didn't matter whether Shingo was 13, or 16. If he was the right person... if she truly loved him... then they were meant to be together, and that was that.

But for now, Ami was perfectly content with Shingo being her knight in shining armor. She felt safe with him... and she knew that he would always protect her.

And she would be there to protect him.

Always.

**THE END**


End file.
